The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) will manage a design competition to improve the appearance of the security infrastructure used to control unauthorized vehicular use at President’s Park South. This notice is to solicit interest in participating in that competition.

The proposed design competition will identify alternatives to re-design the security elements while preserving the historic landscape within President’s Park South, which includes First Division Monument, Sherman Park, a portion of E Street, the Ellipse roadways, State Place, Hamilton Place, South Executive Avenue, West South Executive Avenue, and East South Executive Avenue.
NCPC is a federal agency with a mission that includes planning for federal activities in the greater Washington, DC area. The competition will be administered by the NCPC Interagency Security Task Force in cooperation with the United States Secret Service (USSS) and the National Park Service (NPS).
The competition’s goal is to generate creative and thoughtful design concepts that integrate durable, more aesthetic USSS security elements and improve the visitor experience in the President’s Park South area, which is located immediately adjacent to the White House and its grounds.
A selection committee will evaluate each expression of interest with respect to (1) professional qualifications; (2) experience with projects of comparable scale and significance; (3) capacity to accomplish the work; and (4) the ability to obtain a federal security clearance. The committee will identify a list of twelve (12) to fourteen (14) well-qualified firms, from which four firms will then be selected to proceed into the competition’s design phase.

The four finalists will be invited to Washington, DC for a full briefing prior to the competition’s design portion and will receive a $20,000 honorarium upon submission of their design. In return for accepting the honorarium, finalists agree to waive any proprietary rights or interest in their design concept, and ideas contained in their submission and agree to the incorporation of their design, concepts and ideas, in whole or in part, into a potential solution implemented for President Park South whether or not they are selected to undertake the project.

The finalists will present their designs in a public forum and to the NCPC Interagency Security Task Force – the selection committee for the competition. Following these presentations, the NCPC Interagency Security Task Force will rank the finalists. The winning firm may subsequently have the opportunity to enter into a contract with the National Park Service to refine and potentially execute their design. A formal federal and local review and approval process, including a NEPA Environmental Assessment, will be completed following the competition.

To learn more about the competition, please read the following design submission requirements and program and design criteria. If you would like to participate in this competition please submit five (5) hardcopies and one digital version (ppt, pptx or pdf format) of the Architect & Engineers Qualifications Form (GSA form 330), a cover letter expressing your firm’s interest in and understanding of this project (no more than three pages), and your firm’s portfolio (focused on work relevant to this assignment). Please submit this (and only this) material by 5:00 pm, April 18, 2011 to:
National Capital Planning Commission
Attn: Office of Administration
401 9th Street, NW, Suite 500 North
Washington, DC 20004